ZIP files of ready-to-install CTAN packages. The package contained
in CTAN directory a/b/c/d/ appears as
install/a/b/c/d.tds.zip — each such file may be
unzipped directly into a TDS tree, and
should contain no “tree prefix”

Material which is now obsolete, but which needs to remain on the
archive for some reason (such as the 1992 LaTeX 2.09
distribution). The tree maintains a ‘shadow hierarchy’
— for example
obsolete/macros has the same basic
structure as macros.

Searching CTAN

Searching is a topic which is under active development: the CTAN
team hope to be able shortly to provide significant new tools. In
the interim, we can offer Jim Hefferon’s CTAN Search page (note: this
page sets a cookie to record what you believe to be your best CTAN
mirror).